Sunday, January 24, 2010

Book Review: Judgment, by Noel Tichy & Warren Bennis

I heard this book in audio format, and it was probably not the best to way to go through this book, because it has a lot of tabulated information that doesn't carry well as a narration. The premise is pretty simple: that performance of a company is affected by the judgment calls made by the leaders. It outlines a framework for judgment that is carried through several real-world examples, mentioning stories about big businesses such as GE, HP, Best Buy, Microsoft, etc., and how their leaders dealt with challenges. I found it very informative and educational. I liked how they defined the concept of strategy: The choices we make for the allocation of resources. Another question that intrigued me was in regards to G.E. Can a company grow through innovation? Apparently it can. Another section talked about how to recognize some of the abilities of a leader by posing some questions: can they solve problems? Have they taken innovative ideas and turn them into solutions for customers? Can they take these solutions and and turn them into a viable business?.

The book is a little dry, and tries to sound academic and authoritative, but it has very good perspective on the human aspect of organizations.